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Hilbert Graduate Students Help with Buffalo Bills/KaBOOM! Playground

HAMBURG, N.Y. – Baker Victory Services / ChildPro was selected to receive a grant from the Buffalo Bills and KaBOOM! (http://kaboom.org) to build a state-of-the-art community playground for children in their Early Childhood Program. Two of Hilbert College’s master of public administration students, Jeremy Schlosser and Zsofia Parragh, will each be leading their own project teams in the construction of the playground.

On October 23, a group of 200 staff, volunteers, and Hilbert students will work to make the playground a reality in an area of the parking lot behind Our Lady of Victory School (OLV)I. The build day will bring plenty of activity - and even some Bills players - to the School, as the dream playground is constructed.

Children from Baker Victory Services and ChildPro played an active role in the design process of the playground. On Sept. 5 the Buffalo Bills, Baker Victory Services, and organizers from KaBOOM!, hosted a day for children at the school to draw their dream playground, which will ultimately become a reality.

The multi-agency collaboration also involves the United Way, Play 60 Challenge, and the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council, Inc. The playground build project managers, Dr. Walter and Mary Iwanenko, who also secured the grant with the help of United Way, were invited to help make the official announcement with the Buffalo Bills at the 12th annual Buffalo Bills Kid’s Day on August 25.

The OLV playground will be the first built by KaBOOM! and the Buffalo Bills, and is just one of more than 150 playground builds KaBOOM! will lead across the country in 2012 in an effort to provide kids with a great place to play.

Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 1,100 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college’s engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college’s first graduate programs and new Accelerated Degree Programs geared to adult learners.